The arrival of Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford at the Newstalk ZB has had an immediate impact on the radio ratings. Photo / File
The arrival of Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford at the Newstalk ZB has had an immediate impact on the radio ratings. Photo / File
Newstalk ZB has grown market share with audiences hungry for news and opinion, once more claiming the title as New Zealand's number one radio network, according to the GfK independent commercial radio survey results.
Newstalk ZB is now also the number one station in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch with the Mike Hosking Breakfast Show claiming the spot as most popular Breakfast show.
Fletch, Vaughan and Megan, hosts of ZM Breakfast, continue to lead the way with young Kiwis as the number one breakfast show for all New Zealanders under 40.
"We've taken great strides this year delivering listeners the hosts they can relate to whichever station they choose to listen to. We have an incredible lineup of New Zealand's most talented broadcasters and they're here, day in day out for their listeners," said NZME group director of entertainment, Dean Buchanan.
Newstalk ZB's continued dominance across the year has been especially pleasing for NZME, with several changes to ZB's line-up during the year including Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford hosting Afternoons, Kerre McIvor moving to Mornings and Heather du Plessis-Allan hosting Drive.
"For Newstalk ZB, this is an incredible amount of change in a short period of time and the audience has loved it. Our loyal listeners have stayed, and our on-air teams have attracted brand new listeners as well," said NZME's head of talk Jason Winstanley.
"The arrival of Simon and Phil has had an immediate effect in the Christchurch radio market with audiences following the 'Barnett Effect'," said Winstanley.
ZM's Fletch, Vaughan and Megan had the number show for Kiwis under 40. Photo / File
The great NZME survey results have gone hand in hand with industry recognition at this year's radio awards. ZM won network station of the year with ZM Breakfast's Fletch, Vaughan and Megan winning Best Breakfast Show. Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking and Marcus Lush won awards for their shows and ZB's reporting team won accolades for their news coverage.
"Another year like this shows the exciting opportunity we have to continue to grow audiences right across NZME radio. Today's results reinforce the radio industry's growing potential to deliver bigger and more engaged audiences than ever before," said NZME's chief radio and commercial officer Wendy Palmer.
Chief executive Michael Boggs: "We're also celebrating the 3.2 million New Zealanders that listen to NZME's radio networks, read its newspapers or access its digital brands regularly.
"We take great pride in delivering Kiwis news, information and entertainment where, when and how they want it. Our unrivalled blend of digital content, radio broadcasts and newspaper distribution mean we can connect with Kiwis regardless of where they are."
The radio results follow soaring digital and print readership for NZME's flagship New Zealand Herald newspaper.
Nielsen readership results, also released today, showed the Herald's average daily newspaper readership climbed to 465,000, an increase of 12,000 people on the same period last year.
At the same time, the Herald's overall digital audience numbers are also soaring. In October, the NZ Herald's monthly unique audience reached 1.824 million
